Australia is yet to be confirmed as a participating country at Eurovision 2018 in Libson, but that hasn’t stopped our friends Down Under from spinning the rumour mill about potential singers. And from the chatter two names have emerged loud and clear: The Voice Australia alums Ellen Reed and Alfie Arcuri.

In early August Australian newspaper The Courier Mail tipped the sassy Ellen, who placed fourth on The Voice in 2016, as Australia’s next Eurovision representative. Regardless of whether SBS has her on the cards, she’s certainly putting her name out there and making it clear she’s ready and willing.

Ellen recently spoke to long-time Eurovision correspondent and friend of wiwibloggs Blair Martin on 4ZZZ Queer Radio about the possibility of making the trek to Lisbon, and has since tweeted that she would be honoured to even be considered as the Aussies’ next Eurovision star.

To have my name mentioned in the same sentence as @Eurovision is a dream! I'd be honored to even be considered to represent Australia! ????

Following her success on The Voice, she spoke publicly about the difficulties she has faced from music industry producers who have said “disgusting” things about her curvy figure.

“I’ve had major record labels say to me ‘you have got a good voice but you still haven’t got the right look and we still don’t think we can do anything with you even off the back of your new-found success,’” she told The Courier Mail.

A keen songwriter who writes often about her troubled love life, she now releases music independently. Most recently she dropped “Favourite Mistake” — a single with a powerful beat that would fit comfortably on the Eurovision stage with its soulful sound and her resonant voice.

Alfie’s latest single “If They Only Knew” is a strong and emotive ballad which recounts the difficulties he and his former boyfriend faced with others coming to terms with their relationship. He didn’t expect that the song would ever find an audience. As he told The Daily Telegraph:

“I never actually wrote this song to be released because it is so personal… (My boyfriend and I) were together for a couple of years and half way through the relationship he came out. The song is almost like a diary entry for me telling his parents how innocent our love and relationship was because to them I was like the devil who turned their son gay. It wasn’t like that at all though, it was a beautiful love.”

The song cracked the top 100 in the Australian Record Industry Association charts.

The X Factor Australia, which produced Eurovision 2016 representative Dami Im and 2017 representative Isaiah Firebrace, has ceased production and will not be renewed in 2018 due to poor ratings.

With that in mind, perhaps the Australian delegation may look towards The Voice Australia for its next Eurovision act?

Would you like to see Ellen Reed or Alfie Arcuri represent Australia in Lisbon? Who else would you like to see? Let us know in the comments section below!

Sebastian Diaz

Of Australian-Argentinian descent, Sebastian speaks English and Spanish. Following Eurovision since 2005, he is learning Italian so that he can one day ‘cry in Italian’ to Marco Mengoni’s "L'Essenziale".

60 Comments

EscAUAugust 18, 2017 @ 4:10 am

Lol who are these people? And SBS will only send Sony music artists anyway so anyone from The Voice is out. We need to stop sending ballads and show another side of the Aussie music industry. Sending Isaiah was a bit complacent too, just sending a young inexperienced TV show winner- we have to fight for our place EVERY year because we’re not permanent so we have to put in 100% effort every year! Just as our first year was ‘meant’ to be our only shot (the reason people actually paid to vote) and sent one of our biggest stars Guy because it might be our last shot. Send someone established and smash it!

They are never supported by televoters ?!? Can I remind you that they have been in the Top 10 of televoting two times out of three. Guy Sebastian was 6th and Dami Im was 4th. And you say they are not supported by televoters ?

If you don’t like something that doesn’t stop it from being good and unlike Australia there are countries that consistently send entries that are bad yet you don’t seem to mind them competing. So spare me your weak excuses as to why we shouldn’t compete.
Australia isn’t in Asia either, it’s a continent in itself! Some advice, try fact checking before you comment.

Oh please as if I did not know that Australia is a continent.
You belong to the Asia-Pacific region, so you need to compete in some kind of Asiavision. yep, there are plenty of countries which send absolute crap for the contest, but they are still in Europe, integrated into it or have complex relationship with the region, while Australia is politically, economically and culturally isolated. It is also proud of its own non-European way deliberately staying isolated, so some sort of Asian competition would be great for you. But we don’t need any more crap here, Russia is already competing haha

We are a British colony and part of the Commonwealth of Nations which sounds like a strong political and historical connection to me. To imply we don’t have any cultural ties is absurd as well, again you need to fact check before you comment. Also could you stop assuming things like we are proud of our “non-European way” when in fact we are a culturally diverse country with a large European diaspora and are excepting of our multiculturalism.
I don’t like most Russian entries either but to call it crap is unreasonable, besides if they’re the sort of songs you hate no wonder you don’t like our entries

Well, belonging to the Commonwealth of Nations does not make Australia European. Yes, you’re a multicultural country, but you’re geographically and politically isolated, getting new trends later than the majority of progressive countries out there. Your political orientation is Asian countries and the US. And of course, in no way is Australia a part of Europe, those times are gone for good. I lived in Australia and know what I’m talking about.

I wouldn’t say that Russian and Australian entries are equal to any degree: while most Russian songs are indeed terrible, Australian entries are merely predictable and boring, not carrying any creativity in them.

You may have lived in Australia but I was born and raised here and trust me I know a lot more. I never said being part of the Commonwealth makes us European I simply said it was a political connection, why do you think we have a Governor General.
Anyway you seem to disregard everything I’m saying so we may as well end the conversation here, I getting bored and tired of this drama.

Governor General is practically no one, AU is rather formally politically tied to the UK, not Europe, and that connection is just the legacy of former colonialism, not being really influential. I would rather have the US or Canada in Eurovision than Australia, which is probably the most backward state among the Anglo-Saxon democracies.

The Governor General may not excercise his powers often but he certainly has them and the point I was trying to make was having one is a political connection not how much status they have. If we have a connection to the United Kingdom which is in Europe then we have a European connection and if we are currently part of the Commonwealth then it’s not a former connection.
Australia has the 2nd highest HDI behind Norway which makes us a very progressive country. So to assume we are more backwards than a country like America where just the other day a car tried to run people over for being black is preposterous. I’m not implying America isn’t liberal but you are saying the most ridiculous things and even if we are the most backward Anglo-Saxon nation (which we’re not) we are still more advance than some European countries.

CharlesAugust 16, 2017 @ 10:56 pm

Because I am more familiar with him and love his work ….
Alfie Arcuri
But I’m afraid fans will want to get him undressed to spice up any LGBT ballad he could take to the Eurovision stage because … well … it’s Eurovision as we know it … today.

“Not even a summer holiday break seems to help people here understand one tiny little thing …. it’s a SONG contest … without great songs … none of these people are worth anybody’s time … Why are we constantly daydreaming of the people that should be at Eurovision … when the main thing that starts it all and it’s the reason for it all isn’t even here? THE SONGS!!”

Out of those two I’d prefer Ellen Reed, she has a nice voice that might go well with a contemporary track. However, she has to find a more unique musical style (I’ve gone through the songs in her playlist and they all sound like that could be sung by pretty much any 2017 pop music artist).

Alfie Arcuri’s voice has that certain whiny tone to his voice that I personally don’t really like. And he seems to try a little too hard to make his music seem more ambitious than it actually is.

It’s sad that Australia has sent nothing but reality TV stars since their first participation. From the get-go, this is how the contest has been seen in Australia (or so it would seem). Each and every one of their contestants has been super talented, don’t get me wrong, but if this is now the perception of the contest, no wonder more established stars won’t go near it. It’s not a launchpad.

What’s wrong with reality television stars, It’s a song contest and that is the only thing that matters. Australia could send someone off the street as long as they’re talented (although experience is ideal). Belgium’s last 5 contestants have been from “The Voice” and no one seems to mind, besides Guy and Dami were established artists by the time they competed so why should it matter how they became successful in the first place.

There’s nothing wrong with them competing, but it shouldn’t just be exclusively ex-X Factor, ex- Voice contestants. It’s like this with a lot of countries, and I would hate for my beloved Eurovision Song Contest to be misguidedly seen as another one of those trashy & exploitative “talent” contests. It’s a cut above. It’s not a launchpad for amateurs, like you say, it’s a song contest.

Oh, thanks. It would great if SBS did that (assuming they’re let compete next year), but only if it was a genuine open competition. Not one totally controlled by the record company, who literally pay for everything – including the participation fee.

Agree, they will never win and not because neighbour voting exist, but European people still don’t understand what are they doing in Eurovision and they will never get it. And I kind of agree with them, just because it’s a big thing in Australia doesn’t mean they should be allowed to compete. Nothing personal, I like their songs.

They will win atleast once in the near future Erasmus. The EBU will try very hard to make us ‘realise’ that they belong in the competition.
The jury’s already inflate their results. They wouldn’t even have qualified this year if it was just televotes but EBU and juries keep telling us they’re good, and in marketing, if everyone says something is good, then it must be good, hence why you would buy into it.
Australia will win…it’s coming very soon. Maybe after that they will start to fade away.
I like the country, and their entries have been quite good (maybe overinflated to a degree, but still relatively good). But I will never get why they are in Eurovision and the contest just hasn’t felt the same since they debuted.

I understand Eurovision needs an identity but it’s not like Australia’s participation is a gateway for other non-European countries competing. Australia have a huge fan base and even then we still had to earn our way into the competition. As far as Eurovision not feeling the same, one country isn’t going to change anything and there are several countries that aren’t in Europe anyway, I mean you don’t seem to have a problem with Israel competing and culturally Australia is a lot more European.

Just because Israel competes in European competition’s doesn’t make it a European country, don’t get me wrong I have no problems with Israel competing in Eurovision I’m simply stating that It isn’t in Europe. Also Israel isn’t the only non-European country, while it’s unofficial the Caucasus isn’t in Europe or at least it’s undecided.

It’s actually not a “big thing” in Australia. It’s on an extremely under-watched minority channel and gets relatively small ratings. I don’t think it even comes close to topping the ratings for that one Saturday night, SBS simply can’t compete with the big commercial TV stations. It’s a cult thing, with a small (but growing) base of loyal viewers. By no means a “big thing”.

Austria got nill points twice in 3 years, Germany came last 2 years in a row, should they leave? If every country withdrew after one bad score there wouldn’t be a competition, so you don’t have a valid argument. Also what about our 191 points in the televoting last year? I doubt you will ever pay attention to our achievements though and just continue finding excuses for why we shouldn’t be in the competition.

As stated on the official Eurovision website in the FAQ’s section the fee is different for each country based on the solidarity principle that the strongest shoulders carry most weight. This means our participation fee can be larger than other countries. Same goes for annual membership fees for the EBU!

Right, but…Australia (SBS) are in fact not a member of the EBU. Per the EBU website, “Membership is for broadcasting organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area, as defined by the International Telecommunication Union, or are members of the Council of Europe.”

What Australia are doing in the contest is beyond me. Totally unfair. They pay a participation fee, sure, but contribute nothing to the broader EBU system yet get one of the most prominent benefits.

We are an associate member though and we pay our annual fees (both the SBS and the ABC). It isn’t unfair we are competing, it’s unfair that children are starving in Africa – I think you need to stop worrying about the small things. Bottom line is, you’re not throwing the party so you don’t get to say who’s invited, there is no point complaining so if it bothers you that much no one is making you watch The contest.

Um – first of all, I resent the implication that I do not care about people starving in Africa. My mind is developed enough to cope with more than one thing at once – the two are not mutually exclusive. If I were to “stop worrying about the small things”, then life would be unlivable – the small things are what makes it worthwhile.

Secondly, by paying a television license fee to my public broadcaster (an actual member of the EBU), I actually am in fact “throwing the party” – the members of the EBU are the ones paying for it, and yes, it is totally reasonable that we are the ones who gets to say who’s invited. Sorry.

Lastly, I have loved all three of Australia’s entries and they have added much to the contest – but it still strikes me as totally unfair that they are allowed parachute in based on a whim.

I’m sorry if I made you feel that way, I would never imply that you wouldn’t care about something so serious. Don’t get me wrong I understand bad things need to happen so life has depth all I meant was in the grand scheme of things it isn’t something to worry about.

Broadcasters receive money from many sources and there is no way of knowing your fees are going towards Eurovision. So unless you work for the EBU or the host broadcaster and you’re the one organising the event your say isn’t reasonable.
If you find it that unfair I’m sure they will listen to any complaints!

Defining a good Eurovision song is one complicated task ….I can love one particular song and find it amazing … whereas you hate it to death or vice versa … as televoters me and you … how would we solve this? Which outcome would probably result of this clash of taste and preference? Yours or mine? Are more people sharing my taste or yours? So is is really all secured by a song being “good”? It’s something so subjective and always goes way beyond the quality of the song … specially considering how much televoters love to be entertained by certain non-musical factors … I’d rather not even refer or remind for sake of my sanity.

If Australia is competing again in 2018, what they really need to focus on is getting public support for their artists rather than playing it safe with the juries. As talented as these The Voice alums are, they won’t cut it in terms of their recognition with the public, and they risk not standing out enough. The biggest problem for Australia in Eurovision for the past three years is that they fail to be innovative with the songs, often relying on the familiar sounds of top 40 hits. A song can be well-produced, but a boring song is still boring. You can’t throw money and expect people to buy into it all that much either.

However, I’m not suggesting that SBS go the easy route and select artists for their fame and recognition in the industry. That would place too much emphasis on the people singing the song rather than the song itself, and this is precisely why I disapprove of letting The Veronicas do it. They had a comeback a few years ago, but it didn’t peak as much as some of their first few songs. And their reliance on shocking the audience (i.e. performing topless at the ARIAs) isn’t going to cut it either if the vocal performance is lacklustre, as it mostly is. I would prefer going with new and upcoming artists with some recognition in the public as performers, and veteran, chart-toppers as song writers and/or producers. Australia in 2018 can’t do cookie-cutter hits anymore, they need to appeal to the general emotions of the audience and try something innovative.

Here is who I recommend:
-Montaigne (see I’m a Fantastic Wreck)
-Tash Sultana (see Jungle)
-The Presets, who I’d like as songwriters more than performers (see The Girl and the Sea, or, This Boy’s in Love)

Please note that I didn’t say that Australia themselves were failing in Eurovision altogether. Read my post again and actually address the points that I make before invalidating them with blanket statements.

What I did say was that Australia for the past three years has consistently relied more on the juries to pull them through. Three years in the top ten are great, sure, but when your last entry scored 2 points from the Televote, at a time when Australia’s very existence in the contest is controversial at best is not a good sign. What Australia has failed on, like I said before and you obviously ignored, is that they aren’t innovative enough with the song choice. The last three songs are essentially a copy and paste from top 40 radio stations of basically every single country. That’s not inspiring a lot of people who watch Eurovision, it’s just convenient. You can spruce up a song later in the finals with vocal olympics all you want or throw money at the stage design all you want, it doesn’t change the fact that there wasn’t much of a first impression with the public when the songs first hit airplay.

But yeah, cool, what do I know? It’s not like thinking critically and providing constructive feedback would help Australia receive its first win or anything. >_>

Don’t y’all think it’s time countries started sending good and REAL music? The contest is under a serious threat of this “someone from a singing contest + a formula song written by a group of Swedish songwriters” formula. All songs started to sound the same. This kills the “diversity” Eurovision is said to be known with. It’s time for countries to send some actual artists who has their own creativity and style in their songs.

I hate when countries send artists from talent shows, which aren’t really in singer careers. It’s kind of disrespectful towards Eurovision… I’m sure they are good singers like Isaiah or Lucie, but still. And usually they don’t send an entry that actually match their music outside Eurovision.

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